() — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Ohio seized three shipments of fake watches and jewelry with an estimated street value of nearly $7 million, authorities said.
Agents intercepted the Hong Kong shipments in Cincinnati, CBP said in a news release earlier this month. They contained more than 800 imitation Cartier bracelets and 13 Rolex watches. The bracelets were addressed to a private residence in Virginia and the watches to a company in Texas.
CBP seized fake watches and jewelry.
One of the packages had a declared value of $319, but if the jewelry had been real, it would have been worth more than $3 million, according to CBP.
“CBP officers play a critical role in the Nation’s efforts to prevent counterfeit and pirated products from harming the American public,” Cincinnati Port Director Richard Gillespie said in the statement. “This is another dramatic example of how CBP agents work every day to protect the American consumer, the US economy and US jobs.”
CBP has warned of a significant increase in counterfeit and pirated goods entering the US, fueled in large part by the rapid growth of e-commerce.
“U.S. consumers spend more than $100 billion each year on goods that infringe intellectual property rights (IPR), and are victims of approximately 20% of counterfeits sold illegally worldwide,” CBP said. in the statement.
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